Thursday, September 16, 2010

Thank you to all commenters! I've had a rough week off blog and I enjoy hearing your thoughts. Spambots are getting smarter. Their latest trick is to copy your actual comments -- the text being totally related to the post -- and repost with their sales link, so blog masters like myself think it sounds legit. Argh. Knowing that real people take the time to comment is such a blessing... especially with impostors in the mix. Plus, it's nice to know that things get read once they're off the main page.

Here's some highlights from older discussions...

Burning Reels saw the documentary Last Train Home (now in theatrical release) about the world's largest migration, annually in China, which I recommended back in January. Reels agrees that it's superb but has a minor quibble with the finale. Some awards pundits think this doc has a small chance to show up in the Oscar race. Documentary punditry isn't my strong suit but I'm really hoping they're underestimating it. Have any of you seen it? Go!

Vanessa, Dan and Kelly all chimed in on last week's debut episode of "Unsung Heroes" which is still attracting readers. The topic was the special effects of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Vanessa loved the shot of Winslet slipping into darkness which reminds her of the rawness of dreams and trying to remember them as you wake up, Kelly thought the forced perspectives making Joel childlike were richly handled and Dan brought up an interesting comparison point: David Fincher's Zodiac. Good comparison point for sure.

Caroline wrote a heartfelt note about a post from quite a while back about the loss of Heath Ledger. I know I'm not the only one that will forever connect Annie, Jake, Michelle and Heath to Brokeback Mountain, no matter how far away they travel from it with time.

14 comments:

I will go hate-for-hate with anybody when it comes to Alice in Wonderland, sir. My poor girlfriend has had to listen to my unhinged rants on the subject for months. Although in fairness, you did go all the way and give it an F, where I hedged a bit a gave it a 2 out of 10 based mostly on Helena Bonham Carter. Now I wonder if I was way too generous.

Have you seen a picture from the shooting of Swinton's We Need to Talk About Kevin? She might even be three years in the running....http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l8sbiz6WXB1qbkm4ho1_500.jpgshe looks so frail. I hope it's good and doesn't get snubbed.

The dismissal of Spielberg’s adaptation of The Color Purple has always burned me. Not so much anymore because those who criticize it for not being as explicit as the novel miss the point of producing a profitable film that speaks to the widest audience possible in turning a feminist story centered around black women into something emotionally palatable to those with a willing heart who don’t fit the novel’s initial demographic. Then you have those that reject the film as white guilt propaganda and anti black male. It’s neither. The story never begs white audiences to feel sorry for the black characters because they’re black as is the case with Jackie Brown and Precious. Since the story is being told from the point of view of women and it’s attacking patriarchal order it’s not anti black male but happens to address gender oppression within the black American experience that can overlap along the plight white women and women of all groups can feel about their relationships to men -- especially in the era in which the story takes place.

Oprah Winfrey deserved the Oscar. My opinion of course but her work in Purple to this very day hits home for me -- maybe because as a black person the Sofia character is more representative of women in our families and communities. I think contemporary white audiences who reject this character and performance on the bases of her character not being likeable, limit character range, or too proud. I want to address too proud. She’s a black woman in America at a time where being black meant you were less than nothing. She’s a woman and she’s overweight. She’s been pushing up against the opposition of her own identity. So yeah her character is proud because she’s always proving herself throughout the picture until she’s broken and once then her big voice becomes softer and more or less she’s lined up with what the greater world both black and white demand of her because she has no fight left.

On Spielberg movies and I -- I am a lover of the Indiana Jones trilogy and The Color Purple -- and two executive produced sequels: Back to the Future Part 2 and Gremlins 2: The New Batch. It stops there. Jurassic Park was initially entertaining but is not just awful and silly. And although I think Schindler’s List is a landmark movie like everyone else it would be perfect without they I could save more ending. Minority Report is decent for making me fall in love with Samantha Morton. There I’m done.

/3rtfu11: I hear you on arguing that "Spielberg's not all he's cracked up to be", yet, I don't quite buy that The Colour Purple should have been a movie. Because, well, there are MORE APPROPRIATE authors to choose from. Spielberg is mostly an adapter, but the main theme of Spielberg's work is the concept of childhood and the inner child. Only 1 film with his primary concept (Hook) is truly awful, while only 1 film without it in any form (Quint is the man-child of Jaws while Roy Neary from Close Encounters regresses into a childhood state) is undeniably awesome (Schindler's). I just hope War Horse and Tintin don't turn out to be disasters. Although...War Horse? It's a movie about a kid trying to find a horse in WWI. How is that not a disaster waiting to happen coming from Spielberg? (I really doubt he has a Come and See in him, y'know?)

I will never forget the day that Heath Ledger died. I remember just shaking, and having to excuse myself from the room. I don't know why that was, at that point I hadn't even seen some of his best work. But when I heard that he died, it felt that I had lost him personally. As if he were someone I could lose. As if I'd known him all of my life.